Jarome Iginla leaves Bruins, joins Avalanche

Tuesday

Jul 1, 2014 at 2:46 PMJul 1, 2014 at 4:32 PM

Jarome Iginla's stint in Boston was just one season.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

Jarome Iginla's stint in Boston was just one season.

As first reported by TSN and confirmed by the Daily News, Iginla has signed with the Colorado Avalanche. It's a three-year deal worth $16 million, paying $5.5 million each of the first two seasons and $5 million in the final year, according to reports.

A team source said the Bruins knew "long ago" that Iginla would be leaving. With their salary cap situation and long-term perspective on upcoming free agents in the next two years, the Bruins could never offer Iginla the kind of security or term Iginla received from Colorado.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli could only offer another one-year bonus-laden contract.

This contract could take Iginla, who also turned 37 years old Tuesday, through the end of his career. He'll be approaching 40 when the deal is up.

By going to the Avs, Iginla gets the long-term deal and joins a team on the rise. Colorado won the loaded Central Division last season under first-year coach Patrick Roy and has young stars in Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, although they lost Paul Stastny to the division rival Blues.

Iginla finished his only season in Black-and-Gold with a team-high 30 goals and 61 points. Assuming Chiarelli doesn't make a move over the summer, he'll be replaced on the top line by Loui Eriksson.

Eriksson played next to Milan Lucic and David Krejci for several games down the stretch with some success. Eriksson projects to fit there, but the Swede's bump up the lineup leaves the third line bare. Center Carl Soderberg and Eriksson formed the core of a dynamic line that was their best in the postseason. Now the Bruins will likely turn to prospects to fill in when the puck drops in October.